The Ukrainian Cossacks, often compared in historical literature to the pirates of the Mediterranean and the frontiersmen of the American West, constituted one of the largest Cossack hosts in the European steppe borderland. They became famous as ferocious warriors, their fighting skills developed in their religious wars against the Tartars, Turks, Poles, and Russians. By and large the Cossacks were Orthodox Christians, and quite early in their history they adopted a religious ideology in their struggle against those of other faiths. Their acceptance of the Muscovite protectorate in 1654 was also influenced by their religious ideas. In this pioneering study, Serhii Plokhy examines the confessionalization of religious life in the early modern period, and shows how Cossack involvment in the religious struggle between Eastern Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicisim helped shape not only Ukrainian but also Russian and Polish cultural identities.

In the years following the Napoleonic Wars, a mysterious manuscript began to circulate among the dissatisfied noble elite of the Russian Empire. Entitled The History of the Rus', it became one of the most influential historical texts of the modern era. Attributed to an eighteenth-century Orthodox archbishop, it described the heroic struggles of the Ukrainian Cossacks. Alexander Pushkin read the book as a manifestation of Russian national spirit, but Taras Shevchenko interpreted it as a quest for Ukrainian national liberation, and it would inspire thousands of Ukrainians to fight for the freedom of their homeland. Serhii Plokhy tells the fascinating story of the text's discovery and dissemination, unravelling the mystery of its authorship and tracing its subsequent impact on Russian and Ukrainian historical and literary imagination. In so doing he brilliantly illuminates the relationship between history, myth, empire and nationhood from Napoleonic times to the fall of the Soviet Union.

The Cossacks have always exerted a strong pull on the imagination, whether as the ferocious horsemen who harassed the retreating Grande Armee of Napoleon all the way to the gates of Paris, or as the fiercely independent renegades who made several bloody attempts at rebellion in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and were responsible for various atrocities continuing into the twentieth century. This splendidly-illustrated volume tells the tale of these great warriors, which is itself woven inextricably through the history of the Russian and Soviet empires. Career diplomat and critically-acclaimed travel writer John Ure traces the story of the Cossacks from the times of Ivan the Terrible, who first employed the horsemen of the Don to repel Tartar and Turkish invaders. From this point in history, the Tsars of Russia counted on the service, if not always the loyalty, of the Cossacks. After the period of Cossack rebellions, led successively by Bogdan, Stenka Razin, Mazeppa, and Pugachev, the Tsars once again harnessed the Cossacks for their own purposes, using them in the front lines in the wars against Napoleon and in the Caucasus, and later to suppress the fomenting revolution. Brutally repressed during the Stalin era, the Cossacks have experienced a resurgence in the post-Communist era. In the early- and mid-nineties. Cossack units were re-established in the Russian Army, and some Cossacks saw action in Bosnia and Chechmya. Once again, they are reclaiming their role in history as a force in both the political and military spheres. John Ure also traces the influence of the Cossacks on Russian culture: writers such as Tolstoy (who served in a Cossack regiment in the Caucasus). Pushkin. Lermontov, and Pasternak all romanticized the Cossacks in print. Featured in this volume in full-color are a glorious and broad selection of paintings, lithographs, and photographs that document this fascinating history. The Cossacks emerge from this narrative in all their brilliant glory -- dashing and cruel, unpredictable and immensely brave. Book jacket.

Ukrainian Cossacks used icon painting to investigate their relationship not only with God but also their relationship with the Russian tsar. In this groundbreaking study, Serhii Plokhy examines the political and religious culture of Ukrainian Cossackdom, as reflected in the Cossack-era paintings, icons, and woodcuts.

In the spring of 1880, a group of American cowboys joined by a band of cossacks trek across the siberian wilderness to deliver cattle to a starving town.

A panoramic view of Cossack history from the 15th to the 20th centuries begins with an exploration of the Cossacks' complex origins, describes their role as border guards and their frontier way of life, chronicles struggles with Turks and Tatars, and traces their loss of collective identity.